UK lighthouses you can visit

Lighthouse map

Explore 31 UK lighthouse sites, including tower visits, visitor centres and exterior views. Colours describe access at the last check, not opening today. Check the operator before travelling.

Coverage reviewed 26 October 2026 against selected visitor directories; this is not a complete list of every UK lighthouse. Original entries were checked on 21 October; additions on 26 October.

Nearby markers overlap at this scale. Use the list to choose every site.

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31 lighthouses

• Seasonal access; check dates
• Selected dates or booking
• Closed at last check
• Grounds or view only

Or choose from the list Portland Bill, DorsetStart Point, DevonSmeaton's Tower, Plymouth HoeBeachy Head, SussexSouthwold, SuffolkSouth Stack, AngleseySouter, South Tyneside coastSt Mary's, Whitley BayLongstone, Farne IslandsMull of Galloway, Dumfries and GallowayBell Rock, off the Angus coastArdnamurchan, West HighlandsKinnaird Head, FraserburghHappisburgh, Norfolk, EnglandSouth Foreland, Kent, EnglandOld Dungeness Lighthouse, Kent, EnglandCovesea Skerries, Moray, ScotlandRathlin West Light, County Antrim, Northern IrelandHarwich High Lighthouse, Essex, EnglandHarwich Low Lighthouse, Essex, EnglandRoker Pier Lighthouse, Sunderland, EnglandSpurn Lighthouse, East Riding of Yorkshire, EnglandWithernsea Lighthouse, East Riding of Yorkshire, EnglandBidston Lighthouse, Wirral, EnglandLeasowe Lighthouse, Wirral, EnglandTrinity Buoy Wharf Lighthouse, London, EnglandNorth Ronaldsay Lighthouse, Orkney, ScotlandSumburgh Head Lighthouse, Shetland, ScotlandEilean Ban Lighthouse, Skye Bridge, ScotlandSt Catherine's Oratory, Isle of Wight, EnglandRoman Pharos, Dover Castle, Kent, England

Check the operator's page

See the print

Took a photo on your visit? Print your own photo in the same sizes.

Trinity House runs over 60 lighthouses around England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. It says six of them are open to the public at certain times of year. Opening varies, so check before you go: at the time of writing, South Stack was closed for maintenance.

13 selected UK lighthouse highlights

The table and stories below cover the original 13 sites, including two offshore lights with no public entry. Use the 31-site lighthouse map for the wider selection and the access notes for each location.

Portland Bill, Dorset

The present tower was built by Trinity House in 1906. Trinity House notes that in 1788 Portland was the first lighthouse in England to use Argand lamps. Its visitor centres page says Portland Bill opens on selected dates.

South Stack, Anglesey

South Stack was first lit on 9 February 1809. It stands on a tiny islet off Holy Island, cut off by about 30 metres of rough water below granite cliffs 60 metres high. The 28-metre tower was designed by the Trinity House surveyor Daniel Alexander.

Southwold, Suffolk

Southwold's permanent light has been in service since 3 September 1890. Trinity House says tours there are run by Adnams. The round white tower stands among rows of small houses near the middle of the town, and it was built to take over from lights at Orfordness that were threatened by the eroding coast.

Longstone, Farne Islands

Longstone was built in 1826. Trinity House links it to the wreck of the Forfarshire in September 1838. It records the exploits of Grace Darling, the keeper's daughter. The tower is red and white rough stone, and Trinity House says tours are booked by phone.

Start Point, Devon

Start Point was built in 1836 to a design by James Walker. Trinity House says its optic was the first of its kind it used. In 2026 it opened Start Point on four days, 7 June, 5 July, 2 August and 6 September, from 11am to 3pm.

See our own lighthouse prints, printed to order.

Smeaton's Tower, Plymouth

The Eddystone light of 1759 has a second life on land. Trinity House explains that its top half was re-erected on Plymouth Hoe as a monument. It is run by The Box, Plymouth, which says the tower is closed for the season and will reopen in spring 2027.

Beachy Head and Belle Tout, Sussex

Beachy Head lighthouse was built in 1902. It replaced Belle Tout, built in 1828 and abandoned in 1899 because it was often lost in mist and the chalk cliff kept falling away beneath it. The new tower was built about 165 metres out from the foot of the cliffs, from 3,660 tons of Cornish granite.

Souter, South Tyneside (National Trust)

The National Trust runs Souter Lighthouse and The Leas, the stretch of clifftop around it. On 21 October 2026 the Trust listed the lighthouse as open from 11am to 4pm, with no booking needed except for some events. There is a café, and a second-hand bookshop in the admissions area.

St Mary's, Whitley Bay

St Mary's stands on a small tidal island joined to the shore by a causeway, and North Tyneside Council runs it. The council says it opens where it can around the tides, every day from May to October and at weekends and holidays the rest of the year. It publishes safe crossing times, so check them before you walk over.

Kinnaird Head, Fraserburgh

Kinnaird Head, from 1787, was the first lighthouse on mainland Scotland, and it was built straight through the middle of a 16th-century castle. The Museum of Scottish Lighthouses beside it tells the story of the Northern Lighthouse Board, its engineers and its keepers. It was closed for building works when we checked and reopens on 11 November 2026. Normally it opens daily from 10am to 4pm, with 45-minute guided tours.

Mull of Galloway, Dumfries and Galloway

The Mull of Galloway Trust runs Scotland's most southerly lighthouse, where you can climb 115 steps to the balcony and the lightroom. Its 2026 season runs from 30 March to 1 November. The exhibition opens daily from 11am to 5pm, and the tower at weekends and in school and bank holidays, weather permitting.

Ardnamurchan, west Highlands

Ardnamurchan Lighthouse stands on Ardnamurchan Point, the far western tip of the British mainland, and has guided ships off Scotland's west coast since 1849. The Ardnamurchan Lighthouse Trust, a charity, runs a café and tower tours from Tuesday to Sunday between 1 April and 31 October, closed on Mondays.

Before you go

Each visitor site sets its own opening terms, and weather, tides and repairs can close access at short notice. Offshore lights and grounds-only visits do not include tower entry. Check the operator's page on the day you travel, including the route, any narrow stairs and the access you need.

The Bell Rock, Scotland

Scotland's lighthouses are run by the Northern Lighthouse Board, which describes the Bell Rock, first lit in February 1811, as the world's oldest working sea-washed lighthouse.

A lighthouse for your wall

After a day at a lighthouse, a picture of one makes a good reminder. Our lighthouse prints run from calm headlands to stormy rock lights. If you'd rather print a photo you took on the day, we can print it as it is.

Sources

• Trinity House: lighthouse visitor centres
• Trinity House: lighthouses and lightvessels (each tower linked above)
• The Box, Plymouth: Smeaton's Tower
• Northern Lighthouse Board: Bell Rock

Published 9 October 2026.

Written by Craig Fearn, Still & Wake. Last updated 29 October 2026.

Craig Fearn runs Still & Wake. He writes the guides and journal.